September 22, 2010

I am way behind in posting entries -- I have at least two more recipes to post, but limited Internet access combined with a busy schedule is holding me back! It's OK, before I know it I'll have a goodly chunk of free time. Until then, I present to you:

NB: The chocolate I used was Green & Black's Organic Dark Chocolate, which according to the label was "infused with spices and a twist of orange." My pound cake did not come out super-chocolately, but it did have a really delightful spiciness to it!

Pour the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until incorporated. Pour batter into an oiled 9"x5" bread pan and bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 65 minutes.

Why can't I have pretty things?

Verdict: As you can see, my cake collapsed a bit, but that seems to be my lot in life. After cutting away the overflowed edges, I was able to successfully turn it out and slice off some pieces. It was super crumbly at first, but after it had cooled off completely it held together pretty well. Maybe not quite as dense as I'd want a pound cake to be, but it tasted great. Not super-chocolately as previously mentioned, but it sure was fantastic with some strawberries and vanilla soy ice cream.

September 1, 2010

Spray a pan with vegetable oil and saute1/2 cup okara1 Tablespoon sugar1 Tablespoon agave nectar1 Tablespoon tamari2 Tablespoons rice vinegar1 carrot, shredded1/2 tsp. minced ginger1/4 tsp. salt
and saute over medium heat for a few minutes, until the liquids have been mostly evaporated and the contents have been thoroughly combined.

Soak a spring roll wrapper
in some warm water, just long enough to soften it. If you haven't worked with spring roll wrappers before, be advised that it might take some getting used to. They can be sticky and tear easily, which can be pretty frustrating.

Above: You can see that I didn't clean the pan after cooking the okara mixture in it. It really wasn't necessary!

Put a heaping Tablespoonful of the okara mixture into the center of the spring roll wrapper.

Fold the spring roll wrapper around the okara mixture, as if you were folding a burrito. Fold one side over, then fold the bottom up toward the center of the wrapper. Then fold the top down toward the center of the wrapper, and then take the center part with the okara mixture and roll it toward the other side.

Repeat these steps -- soaking a spring roll wrapper, putting down a Tablespoon of filling, and folding the wrapper -- until you run out of the okara mixture. I was able to make seven spring rolls with this recipe.

Fry the spring rolls in hotoil
I used canola oil but something like sesame oil might be more appropriate for a dish like this. After a few minutes, turn the rolls over and fry on the other side for a few minutes. They might turn a little golden, but spring roll wrappers seem to stay pretty light in color ... Unless you fried it for a really long time, I guess. It wasn't necessary to fry these for very long.

Remove from oil and drain. I drained them on a paper towel, to which a few of the spring rolls stuck, so maybe it'd be a better idea to drain them on a wire rack.

Verdict: I really liked the way these tasted! I didn't even use a dipping sauce. The spring-roll wrappers, however, were a little on the sticky/chewy side, so these probably would be even better with wonton wrappers. I can't find ready-made wonton wrappers that are eggless, however, and they are kind of a pain to make by hand. But if you would like to make your own wonton wrappers, or if you can find appropriate wonton wrappers at the store, you might like to use those instead. I would probably consider this to be one of my best okara recipes if I used wonton wrappers instead of spring-roll wrappers.

This recipe only made seven spring rolls -- since I was just experimenting, I didn't want to make a whole bunch in case the experiment ended in failure. If you want more than seven, feel free to double, triple, etc., the recipe.

About This Blog

Unless otherwise noted, I use "wet" okara when cooking; i.e., straight from the soymilk-making process, well drained but without additional squeezing or drying. Since there is variation in okara in terms of wetness, your mileage may vary when following these recipes. Let me know how they turn out for you!

If you don't have access to okara, it might be possible to substitute pureed tofu. I haven't tested these recipes using that substitution, but some of the muffin recipes (e.g., corn muffins and banana-nut muffins) were modified from recipes that originally used pureed tofu.

About Me

I started making my own soymilk to save money and cut down on waste ... only to discover that I was producing more okara than I could shake a stick at. Hence, this recipe blog.
Other than good vegan food, I love reading, writing, independent music, science, evidence-based medicine, and quality television.